Kaiser ranked tops for diversity

Kaiser Permanente has been named No. 1 in the nation for the diversity of its workforce in 2011.

This is the first time Kaiser has claimed the top spot on the DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity list. The Oakland-based nonprofit ranked No. 4 last year.

Kaiser has a workforce of more than 164,000 nationwide; about 54,000 live in Northern California. Kaiser is the largest private-sector employer in the Sacramento region, with more than 9,900 workers.

The company was selected for its diverse board of directors and management, the consistency of its diversity-management efforts, and alignment between diversity in the workplace and Kaiser’s customer base.

Half of those on the Kaiser board of directors are black, Latino or Asian; 36 percent are women. Among top managers, 38 percent are black, Latino or Asian; 25 percent are women.

“As an organization, we serve a very diverse population, and from our board and leadership to out frontline employees, we understand and value diversity,” Kaiser chair and chief executive officer George Halvorson said in a news release.

These values are part of Kaiser’s history.

Company founder Henry J. Kaiser recruited more than 20,000 Blacks from the South for his shipbuilding effort during World War II. Kaiser hired its first woman doctor, Chinese immigrant Beatrice Lei, in 1946 and its first black physician intern, Wendell Lipscomb, in 1951.